[Edit from later, that Proposition got its ass kicked. And the Mayor immediately put out a pretty good statement that was like "FAFO, hoes!" Not quite, but pretty much said "the people have spoken and they didn't want those extra taxes, so we are going to be very transparent now about where all the money is going and why you can't have the local services you want to have." ALSO ALSO, multiple people in my neighborhood have mentioned that they saw a website claiming that our taxes would have gone up by $75,000 a year. WTF. It is one thing to bend the truth to fit your narrative in an election, but shouldn't there be penalties for outright lies?] Anyway, back to the tunes.
Lord Huron - The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1. Kind of an obnoxious album title. Ever since this guy's ACL shows many years ago, I have had a very soft spot in my heart for him. I saw his show both weekends, and the second weekend, I remember standing in the crowd by myself, laughing with pure joy at parts of the show until I had tears leaking out of my eyes during "Meet Me In The Woods." He's great. But then recently I saw that when he is coming to Austin (or he may have already come by now) he will be playing the Moody Center. Which makes no sense to me. This is not a Moody Center band. This is a two-sold-out-nights-at-Moody-Theater or nice night at Moody Amphitheater, but I don't see a sold out 18k crowd, even if he does have a song with 3.3 billion streams now (!?!?!). Only one tune on here cracks ten million streams, and yet they expect 18,000 people to shell out $250 a piece for the show? Curious how that went. Anyway, getting back to the actual review, this album is beautiful. And it's not just all lovely, pastoral balladry (although those songs are great), there are also detours into spoken poetry read by Kristen Stewart over a driving beat, or the twangy rock of "Watch Me Go" or "Used to Know." But the overall feel is definitely one for me of listening to something beautiful and nice. "Nothing I Need" is that hit track with 10.7 million streams.
Comes on like a My Morning Jacket song with that looping picking bit, and then the running drums clacking like a diesel running hard. But also, lyrically, that song is great too - all of us right now are heavy on the things that we want but not the things that we need.
I know I am writing too many asides today, but I went and volunteered at the Central Texas Food Bank yesterday morning, and when I got home and was talking through the experience with my wife, we decided that we needed to give some money to them during this especially fraught period for folks who need food. According to their statistics, $100 will provide 300 meals. THREE HUNDRED!?! What the shit! So, me spending $40 on a lunch at Cedar Door last week would have fed 120 people a meal?!? Good gravy. Anyway, a drop in the bucket but I hope we can get some of this shit straightened out about caring for our neighbors in the community.
Now, for something completely different...
Tyler, The Creator - DON'T TAP THE GLASS. I read a new article about this fella the other day, about how he keeps getting re-cancelled as each generation of fans finds his old edge-lord online crap being a true asshole to just about every demographic he could think of. For me, the bigger issue is that I think his music is butt. So, this one came out with some sort of pronouncement how he was going back to the basics of a good-time rap album instead of trying to be deep and inscrutable. And it kind of works. All weekend long, ESPN kept playing commercials that use "Stop Playing With Me" in the background and it started to worm its way into my brain. The title song got me moving in my chair a little, and Busta Rhymes piping up in "Big Poe" gets me feeling kind of hype too. The pop-forward "Sugar on My Tongue" or "Don't You Worry Baby" are less interesting for me though. Of course, that pop forward stuff is the big hit because the kids love the Tyler stuff that I can't stand - every damn time. "Sugar on my Tongue" has 222 million streams (and of note, nothing else even cracks 90 million).
Would probably be great fun to dance to like a crazy person, but I don't get much from the beat or the lyrics. Also, that video is super freaking weird! I am glad I heard this so that I could say that I enjoyed a little taste of Mr. The Creator, but I'll let this one go on back to the water.
Tyler Childers - Snipe Hunter. My first impression of this one was pretty negative, but as I have listened along over time, I like some pieces of it more. Sort of feels like he is trying to do a Sturgill turn and make slightly weirder music after the prior turn to gospel-ish music. He sings about darma, and even says some naughty words. I wish he wouldn't scream so much on "Eatin' Big Time," because I dig the funky groove of the song itself. Several of the tunes have fun lyrics - if you spent the time to dig in, you'll get fun (and maybe ridiculous) lines about spoiled deer meat or how koalas have either chlamydia or syphilis. I like "Watch Out" about the copperheads being everywhere, and the guitar solo is yummy. And "Bitin' List" makes me laugh - "to put it plain, I just don't like you, not a thing about the way you is. And if there ever come a time I got rabies, you're high on my bitin' list." "Nose on the Grindstone" is great too - dark and brooding and like the classic Tyler that I want to hear. "Oneida" is the top streamer though, with 24.6 million streams.
The waltz is underappreciated these days. But this is a lovely little tune with well-worn lyrics. I like it. The funny thing is that this song just scoots on by when I listen to the album, I would not have pegged it as the hit track at all. According to comments on that video, this must have been an old song that got reprocessed for this album, and people are very glad that Rick Rubin didn't ruin the original feel. Agreed.
I am about to go watch Ryan Bingham tonight. Looking forward to it even though I will not try to say that he is my favorite singer ever. Hopefully the weather will be nice and I can just enjoy the evening.
The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers. The opening track, also the title track, made me very unsure about this disc. It is more pop-forward and generic than I am used to with them, and I really don't like it. Not that they have been the grizzled rock throwback dudes for a while, but its too clean, too pop, too soulless. I don't know if the fact that they had to cancel their whole tour last year for soft ticket sales made them think they needed to change up the vibe, but that isn't what I want from a Keys disc. Not that it all sucks or anything - the guitar on "Man on a Mission" feels like the good old days, and the propulsive fun of "The Night Before" is good. But I want grime. I want unhinged guitar solos rippling with fuzz and balls. I think you can tell that most listeners are not on board, as the first song has the most streams, the second song has the second-most, and the third song is in third place. That is what it looks like when people try the disc out and have varying levels of ability to stick with it. Imma give you "Man on a Mission" because it feels most like what I want. Riffage. 4.6 million streams.
Looks like the area near Palm Springs. But yeah, this leaves behind the pop sense and slick production to get us back to the riffage and straight-forward drum bashing. That is what I desire. Going to let this disc move on down the road and hope the next one is pure throwback.
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